


me thy lips to kiss

by camphollstein



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, F/F, Minor Bolin/Opal, it's all fluff bc im trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5455718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camphollstein/pseuds/camphollstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She just can't keep her eyes off the new History teacher.</p>
            </blockquote>





	me thy lips to kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Don't write overnight. I'm serious. Title from Shakespeare's Sonnet 128.

The first day of classes are always hell for Asami.

She enjoys teaching, no doubt about it; getting teenagers to actively understand and like physics is the best feeling in the world. But she gets used to the silence of her flat during the summer, and coming back to this cacophony of freshmen is... unpleasant at first.

Homeroom is fun to watch, though. Teens have a tendency to split-off into clearly distinct groups, to the point of having an empty chair between them. In Republic City High, the cliques are somewhat more diverse- not much of the jock/nerd groups, but still tight-knitted kids. Occasionally, however, friends start looking like each other, and soon there are five teens wearing the same kind of shirts and shoes and even hair; Asami takes a small delight in spotting them, just because it's funny to her.

At the point they're at, though, everyone still looks like overgrown children. And act like it.

Lunch does not come fast enough. Asami finds her usual spot at the teachers' lounge- Mako and Bolin are already there, discussing football.

“Hey, Asami,” Bolin says after she's been there for a while, like an afterthought. He's got pink on his cheeks, the way he gets when excited. “How's today been?”

“Loud.”

Mako chuckles, unwrapping his sandwich. She grins at how he's cut the crust off. “Tell me about it. I can already tell who is going to hate me.”

“Hate you?” Bolin asks. “Why would they hate you?”

“Because I teach Math. And because I'm not pretty enough to dazzle them like Asami.”

“Aw, Mako,” she says. “You're pretty too.”

“Thank you.”

“The staff meeting is gonna be fun- Jinora says the new history teacher is nice. And Tenzin is gonna tell us what he's gonna do with that extra funding-”

“You just want to see Opal.”

He smiles sheepishly. “That too.”

“Did you guys see those two seniors again, though?” Asami sinks into the old couch. Her lunch is some bagged chicken salad from the deli on her block; it's good, but she's been eating it for the past two months. Maybe Bolin is right about her learning to cook. “The ones that kept dancing around each other last year?”

“I did,” Mako nods. “Still not dating. It's ridiculous.”

“Dating is hard,” Bolin tries to defend them, to his brother's derision. Asami snorts. “Maybe they'll start soon.”

“Nudge 'em a little,” Mako tells her. “Do the world a favor.”

“They're in my AP class. I'll do my best.”

And with that, they go back to their lunches.

 

 

 

It's always cold at Republic City, and it's no wonder the heating is on at the meeting room. Tenzin, coming from a nice and warm place, has a gigantic sweater on and an even bigger frown on his face. Jinora looks just as annoyed, but she can't carry the gravity of Tenzin's squint; Asami reckons she looks like a small, grumpy kitten.

In sympathy, the three Republic City natives sit by her on the couch. Bolin and Mako are unperturbed by the weather, having grown up without insulation – or houses for a while – and accustomed to dealing with it. Asami, though she is far better than tiny Jinora with cold, is in the middle of pulling down her sleeves when the door opens.

Some kind of awareness comes to her. Like she feels the air shift when they enter. It could be construed as simply the air current or the loss of heat, but Asami feels a shiver go through her. Looking up, she sees Opal talking to someone.

She's possibly the most beautiful woman Asami has ever seen. She's utterly thrown off-guard; the woman has a gorgeous smile on, one that reaches her blue eyes and makes them shine like the moon. The way she moves and talks has Asami enraptured, and she misses the question Bolin asks in favor of gazing at her.

It takes Mako's body elbow to her side for Asami to return. “What?” she asks, rather dazedly.

“You look dumb,” he whispers furiously. “Your mouth is wide open. Stop staring.”

Asami puts her hand to her mouth. “Sorry.”

He shakes his head with a grin. Tenzin clears his throat and they shift focus- but Asami is hyper-aware of where the stranger stands next to Opal.

“Today marks the start of another year,” Tenzin starts. “Another year of imparting wisdom onto young minds. Our number of students has grown significantly over the summer, but I believe we can handle it. I trust you all. First order of business, I'd like to introduce you to our newest addition- Korra.”

Korra bows her head a little, a tiny smile on her face. Her eyes find Asami's in passing; Asami holds them as long as she can, involuntarily starting to smile herself. Korra breaks it first, though, looking back at Tenzin.

“Korra is an old friend of mine, and a very capable teacher. I hope you get on well.”

The rest of the speech can be tuned out; she's heard all about the new gym lockers and the better Chem labs from Jinora. Korra's eyes take the forefront of Asami's mind, despite her best efforts.

They are released at the start of the night. Making a point of striding out of the room, Asami lets herself get carried onto the parking lot with the brothers.

“Don't think you're going home without some ribbing,” Mako says when they reach her car. “I saw your heart eyes.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“What's up?” Bolin asks. “What did I miss?”

“Sato here spent half the meeting looking at Korra.”

“Shut up.”

Bolin looks at her like a puppy. “Really?”

“I did not!” She protests in vain.

“So you were just transfixed by Tenzin's bulletin board, huh?” Mako huffs. “I bet the newly rewritten library rules are just fascinating.”

“It wasn't like that.”

“Do you want to talk to her?” Bolin asks, to Asami's horror. “We can go back and I'll pretend to have forgotten something-”

“What? No-”

“We can find out her number! I'm sure it's somewhere in Tenzin's files-”

“Hey, guys.”

They all shut up quickly at the sound. Korra and Opal stand behind Mako, smiling at them. Asami feels, for the first time in years, too nervous to say anything.

Instead, she smiles.

“Hey,” Bolin saves her, his bright and effusive grin aimed mainly at Opal. “How are you?”

“Good,” Opal replies happily. Gesturing to Korra, she says, “Just catching up. Korra and I went to university together.”

“Cool,” Mako raises his eyebrows. “You're from here?”

“Oh, no,” Korra says, and her voice honestly thaws Asami out. “I'm from the South. Came up here for uni, yeah.”

“Korra, these are Mako, Bolin, and Asami.”

“I'm glad you took over History from Pema,” Mako tells her. “It looked a bit overwhelming to look after Rohan and Meelo and still give classes. Why Meelo hasn't moved out is still a mystery, though.”

Asami chuckles and Korra shifts to look at her. She manages to find her voice again. “Meelo is a mystery in general.”

“You guys teach what?” Korra asks. “I didn't catch it at the meeting.”

“I'm Physics, Mako is Math, and Bolin is gym,” she answers. “Bo is the one they like.”

“I thought we established that they like looking at you.” Mako says, and Asami laughs.

“You don't have to sound so heartbroken. I'm sure some of the girls fall for your brooding act.”

Opal shakes her head. “Nah. Not since last year's LGBTQ week.”

“No,” Asami whines. “I let it escape that I date girls and no one lets me forget it-”

“I remember the days I was the heartthrob,” Bolin says with mock-sadness. “When the freshmen drew hearts around my name. To have my reign end in this way...”

“Take the sighing girls,” Asami laughs. “Take all of them. Please. It's creepy.”

“They'll start sighing after Korra soon enough.” Opal says, nudging her friend.

“Of course they will,” Korra smirks. “Look at me.”

 

 

That is proven to Asami two weeks into the semester.

She's in the middle of explaining the Doppler effect when a quick knock comes to her door. Korra pokes her head inside, and half the students straighten up on their chairs.

“I'm really sorry,” she says. “But do you have any chalk?”

“Yeah,” Asami nods. She walks to the door, her heels ringing on the linoleum floor, and gives Korra her cup full of chalk. “I have colored ones too.”

“You don't do things by half, do you?” Korra grins. “I just need a white one.”

“Alright.”

Asami goes back to the board, tossing her hair to look; the door takes a split second longer to close than needed.

She can't really take the history professor out of her head. Korra sits with them at lunch and talks with them at arrival and at the end of the day- she seems to be everywhere, smiling and laughing and telling some story. Asami is always enthralled by her talking and her stories, so much so that Mako has to remind her not to look like an idiot.

If it were anyone else, Asami wouldn't consider the idea of asking them out. Dating someone you work with, even if just as faculty members, doesn't really work out, and Asami would rather not deal with awkwardness in her life. But Korra smiles and gets dimples sometimes and it's really distracting.

Like very, very distracting.

The class ends quickly; the students put away their things and talk loudly over the sound. Asami is putting away some papers before she gets an idea.

Korra's class is about to end when Asami leans on the door frame. The students can't really see her, but Korra does- she grins at spotting her.

“Have you come to demand your chalk back?” she asks. The freshmen on the first row twist to try to see who she's talking to.

“They're needed for some very important equations.”

“Don't you think the formation of the United Republic is of higher importance?”

Asami clicks her tongue. “Agree to disagree.”

Korra waves her hand at the teens. “Class dismissed.”

She feels their eyes on her as she walks up to Korra. The woman shuffles some papers into her bag, still smiling, and Asami can't not look directly at her. “The chalk is on the board.”

“I didn't really want the chalk,” Asami laughs. “I came to make you nervous. Consider it hazing.”

Korra slings her backpack onto her shoulder. “That's mean, Sato,” she says, squinting her eyes. “Terrorizing the newbie with your glares and really high heels.”

“I don't glare.”

“You kinda do.”

They leave the classroom on the way to the staff room; some students turn to look at them. Mako, from where he stands talking to an AP senior, raises a knowing eyebrow at her.

“Do you think I glare or does it look like it from a tiny person's point of view?”

Korra mock-gasps. “Wow- you go for the jugular.”

Asami throws her head back in laughter. “I'm kidding. You're not that short.”

“It's your heels. They are crazy high. Why do you wear them? You're already tall.”

“I think they look nice.”

“They do.”

A uncharacteristic blush comes to Asami's face; Korra is looking dead ahead, like she's talking about the weather or something. “Thank you.”

Korra shrugs. “It's the truth.”

“Soon it will start snowing, though, and I'll have to abandon them.”

“I'll still be surrounded by giants. Good-looking giants, sure, but still giants.”

“You'll get over it,” Asami replies, still thinking about her compliment. Like a damn high-schooler. “You just gotta remember you can probably bench-press all of us.”

“Hell yes.”

 

 

 

“Miss Sato?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think Miss Korra is pretty?”

She startles out of her papers. The class stares at her, the kid in the back still grinning.

“What?”

“Do you think the history teacher is pretty?”

“Do you have a crush on her, O'Brien?” His classmates snicker. Asami smirks and tilts her head. “It's perfectly fine. I think she likes older guys, though.”

Three kids burst into laughter and the boy sinks into his seat. Asami has to chuckle at it.

“Apparently most of the school thinks you're dating Korra,” is what Opal tells her during lunch. “They think you're cute.”

Asami looks at her incredulously. “Where did that come from?”

Opal stares at her like she's an idiot. “You guys walk everywhere together. She carries your books.”

“And that equates to dating?”

“To them, yeah. To me,” she suddenly turns accusing, “It should.”

“Opal.”

“Asami.”

“Opal, no.”

“Is it the 'we work together' thing? Because Tenzin and Pema are married,” Opal rolls her eyes. “To hell with that, anyway. Turn on that weird Asami-charm and sweep her off her feet. Ask her out. God knows she's too shy to do it.”

Korra and Bolin walk in with giant grins and Opal stops talking in favor of ogling Bolin.

“A kid fell on Bolin's class,” Korra tells them. “Right on his ass. And made a sound that was, like, not-human.”

“I wish you could've seen it,” Bolin continues, wiping a tear from his eye. “It was the best thing ever.”

“Someone in one of Asami's classes has a crush on you.” Opal informs Korra. Asami glares.

“Of course they do,” Korra dismisses. “I'm hot.”

Asami scoffs. “Your smugness is unattractive.”

“Is it though?”

Asami glances at Opal. Maybe she's right. Maybe Asami should try this out. So she says, “No, it isn't.”

“So you do think I'm attractive.”

“Well, yes,” she raises an eyebrow, smirking. “Obviously.”

Korra ducks her head. “I didn't think you'd actually agree.”

Her smirk grows wider. “You'd rather I lied?”

“No.”

“You're hot, Korra.”

Korra hides her face under her hands. Bolin and Opal struggle not to laugh. “Stop that.”

“You're hot.”

“This is embarrassing.”

 

 

 

In a delightful twist, Asami's forwardness makes Korra blush. Often. She takes joy in the shift the woman makes from smug to bashful, and thrives on poking out the dimpled smiles she seems to only give then.

Only that, after a month, it's not really enough for her. She finds herself wanting more and more just to lean over and kiss the smile away. Which she can't, because she still hasn't managed to ask her out.

There hasn't been a lot of time and she doesn't want to just suddenly kiss Korra without warning. She wants to take her out and pay for dinner and kiss her goodnight and the whole dumb romantic stuff. But it's very hard not to throw her arms around Korra half the time.

That particular Thursday, Asami has found it specially hard. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, and even Korra had to throw on something warm; a white jumper that hugs her form and looks impossibly soft. It looks brilliant against Korra's dark skin, so much so that Asami reaches to tug on her sleeve while they're sitting at the staff room, talking to the boys.

Korra doesn't shift from the conversation- they keep throwing around numbers and names from some sports team Asami frankly does not give a damn about. She tugs again, fingers moving on their own accord to caress Korra's wrist. Korra's other hand comes up and holds hers loosely. Asami gazes up at her.

When the boys go off on their own tangent, Korra turns to her with a soft look on her face. Without thinking, Asami blurts out, “Go out with me.”

Korra blinks. “What?”

Asami covers her hand with her other one, a smile spreading on her lips. “Go out on a date with me.”

“Wait- really?”

“Yes.” At Korra's stunned silence, she presses on. “Korra? I'm asking you out on a date.”

“Wow- okay. Yeah.”

 

 

She takes Korra out.

It's amazing.

In the car, on the way back to Korra's house, she feels like she's dreaming. Korra looks out of this world gorgeous on her blue dress shirt, and smells so nice and laughs so prettily- Asami can't believe she actually said yes to her. Can't believe her daydreams are actually happening.

She walks her to her door without thinking much about it. Asami is in the middle of a rant about raspberry tea when Korra's eyes lock on her lips and she says, “I want to kiss you right now.”

Asami is so overcome with feelings that she she stops dead in her tracks. Suddenly she's struck by Korra's eyes again- they're the color of the Yue Bay when it freezes in the winter. Asami could just as easily drown in them.

“Can I?”

She nods because she still can't talk. Korra's smile fades as she comes closer; she presses her against the wall, brushing her lips against Asami's. After it's clear Asami won't move away, Korra actively moves to kiss her properly.

She should have expected Korra would be a fantastic kisser. Within seconds, Asami melts into her, arms around her neck; it's like every single nerve-ending on her body turns alive, like the whole world becomes Korra's lips and hands. And it's mind-boggling how heavenly it all feels.

Korra kisses her like there's nothing else in the world.

“I had a really nice time tonight.” Korra whispers between kisses.

“Me too.” Asami says, like she's imparting a secret.

“Let me pay next time, though.”

“Deal.”

Asami's hands move to Korra's hair and she shifts even closer, enveloping herself in the smell and feel and taste of her. “I'll see you on Monday?”

“Yeah. Count on it.”

It's a while before she leaves Korra's hallway.

 

 

By Monday's lunchtime, five students have asked her about her smile. Asami gives them nothing but a shrug. When the bell rings, Korra shows up at the door with a matching grin.

“I'm afraid I don't have any chalk.” Asami tells her.

“I just came to make you nervous,” she says with a cheeky grin. “I don't think I succeeded, though.”

Asami waits until she's out of the students' earshot to answer. “You always make me nervous- I just don't show it.”

“Aw,” Korra pokes her on the arm. “That's cute.”

“I'm not cute.”

“You're cute. You're very cute.”

Asami turns red. “Stop.”

“You're cute.”

“Stop it.”

“Cute, cute, cute.”

“Korra.”

“Not so fun when you're on the other end, huh?”

“Shut up.”

“Adorable.”


End file.
